Japan foreign minister: cannot accept South Korea demands for more steps on 'comfort women'

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono answers a question at the end of a meeting in Ankara, Turkey, December 28, 2017. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said on Tuesday that Tokyo could not accept South Korea's demands for additional measures regarding a 2015 bilateral agreement on the touchy matter of Korean women forced to work in Japanese wartime brothels.

Kono made the remarks to reporters after South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Seoul was not seeking to renegotiate the agreement but that Tokyo needed to make further efforts to help the victims "regain honour and dignity and heal wounds in their hearts."

Under the agreement, Japan apologised to victims and provided 1 billion yen ($8.8 million) to a fund to support them.

(Reporting by Linda Sieg and Nobuhiro Kubo; Editing by Chris Gallagher)